


A Minor Incident With Time

by Nonesane



Category: Sapphire and Steel
Genre: Can be read as shippy or gen it's all in the eye of the beholder, Canon Typical Time Trouble, Eldritch Abominations, Gen, IN SPACE!, Implied Violence, POV Outsider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:06:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21825637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nonesane/pseuds/Nonesane
Summary: Everyone who was there on the day Sertika Station experienced sabotage remembered it. This is why it's so curious that no one ever spoke of what truly happened that afternoon.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 14
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	A Minor Incident With Time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ozsaur](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ozsaur/gifts).



[This recording contains interviews regarding the latest incident at Research Outpost M-6543, hereafter referred to as SERTIKA STATION. We humbly request for this information to not be shared with the general population.  
  
We also request that communication be left open and we be informed of the moment the saboteur is caught, as we are sure You in Your wisdom will see to.  
  
Research setback estimated at six years and three months.]  


* * *

  
**INT: You are First Engineer Gudmund Lindqvist. Is this correct?  
  
L: Correct, yeah, eh, sir.  
  
INT: Could you please describe the events of the afternoon in question?  
  
L: Not much to tell really. I spent most of the day in Observation, making sure all the measurements were in order.  
  
INT: And were they?  
  
L: Yeah, everything looked fine. That's why the explosion came out of nowhere.  
  
INT: Where you in Observation for the whole day?  
  
L: No, Alexandrova took over while I grabbed some lunch. I think she saw more than I did. When I got back to Observation she wasn't there and then, well, you know what happened next.  
  
INT: What did you see when you got back?  
  
L: An empty room. I assumed Alexandrova had gotten tired of waiting for me. The measurements still looked excellent, up until the last second, so I didn't see any need to sound the alarm. And then the explosion had already happened and every warning light in the station had gone off, so there wasn't much for me to do but run for shelter.  
  
INT: I see.  
  
L: Sorry I can't be any of more help.**  


* * *

  
It had started just after lunch.  
  
Gudmund hadn't meant to stay in the cafeteria that long. She honestly hadn't. But the new cook was cute and had been real friendly, sneaking her an extra helping of dessert. So she'd stayed a few minutes longer, so what? Sure, it was an important day, but her task had been more or less busywork and Alexandrova had been late in relieving her.  
  
She should have stayed even longer.  
  
Observation had been quiet as death when she got back there. She'd cursed under her breath, mad at Alexandrova for leaving their shared station unattended. Nothing had seemed out of place, just freshly abandoned, all instruments operational and active. She'd gone inside and sat down, ready to keep on keeping on. It was luck (bad luck) that she'd spotted what she had out of the corner of her eye.  
  
She'd flung herself out of the chair, stumbled back and tripped over her own feet. From the floor she watched herself - _herself_ \- leave the room, shutting the door behind her.  
  
"What the fuck." She'd pressed herself against the controls, metal digging into her back. "What the _fuck_."  
  
If that had been all, she would likely have been able to convince herself she'd been tired or overworked. It wouldn't have been the first time she'd thought she'd seen something out of the corner of her eye because she'd been getting by on three hours of sleep. But she hadn't just seen herself; she'd _remembered_. She'd gotten back to Observation and when she hadn't seen Alexandrova there, she'd gone back outside. But she'd also remained there, looking at the measurements. And she'd _also_ gone into the lab. Right in, and she'd seen... she'd **seen**.  
  
She hadn't dared tear her eyes away from the door she'd seen herself exit through. The door remained shut.  
  
"Hello."  
  
Gudmund had let out a shriek and banged her head against the console.  
  
A woman dressed in blue had stood by the room's other door, the one that lead to Dr Granberg's laboratory. She'd held a sleeping cat and worn an expression of placid pleasantness.  
  
"I-I," Gudmund had stammered, head spinning. "I saw." She'd known how mad it would sound but she hadn't been able to stop herself from speaking. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I saw myself. I walked out that door. And-" The rest had been unspeakable. Literally.  
  
"That must have been very upsetting."  
  
The cat, black as pitch, had opened yellow eyes and blinked at her. Then it and the woman had vanished.  
  
Gudmund had remained on the floor, nursing her sore head and shattered nerves, until the explosion.  


* * *

  
**INT: You are-  
  
A: Second Engineer Natali Alexandrova, sir!  
  
INT: Yes, thank you. Could you please tell me about the moments before the explosion?  
  
A: I took over from First Engineer Lindqvist in Observation at 12 sharp. The explosion occurred at 13.16.  
  
INT: Where were you between 13.00 and 13.16?  
  
A: Assisting Dr Granberg in her laboratory.  
  
INT: By her request?  
  
A: Correct, sir.  
  
INT: How did the two of you survive the explosion?  
  
A: Dr Granberg spotted the saboteur and alerted me in time for the both of us to take cover. The laboratory was built with the eventuality of an accident in mind.  
  
INT: Did you see the saboteur?  
  
A: I'm afraid not, sir.  
  
INT: How long have you been assigned to Sertika?  
  
A: Three years, sir.  
  
INT: Thank you, Engineer Alexandrova. That will be all.**  


* * *

  
"Alexandrova?"  
  
Natali had pulled her attention away from the console with little effort. She'd been counting the minutes until Lindqvist - late as usual - would find her way back to Observation and concentrating on the measurement readings had been getting harder by the minute. They'd not changed since she'd sat down. What in that moment _had_ changed was the open door to the laboratory and the woman standing in the doorway.  
  
"Something wrong, doctor?" Dr Granberg hadn't looked too good; pale and wild-eyed. Natali had assumed nerves had been getting to her.  
  
"Could you come in here for a minute?" A shaky smile had twitched over Granberg's lips. "If Dr Ohanian hadn't been on sick leave I'd have asked him, but…" She'd spread her arms in a 'what can you do?' gesture, the smile flickering in and out.  
  
It had been odd. Then again, Granberg had always struck Natali as odd. So, fool that she was, she'd gone into the lab.  
  
The laboratory had looked the same as always, except for one thing.  
  
"Dr Granberg, who is this man?"  
  
"You may call me Steel," the man in question had said, not giving Granberg the chance to speak. He'd had his back to them, his attention on the glass separating the laboratory from the engine test chamber. He'd worn a grey suit and had his hands clasped behind his back. "Do you believe me now?"  
  
"I do." To Natali's further surprise, Granberg had put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed, as if making sure she was really there. "Gods forgive me, I do."  
  
"Doctor, what-?" Natali hadn't gotten more words than that out before it'd fully registered where the strange man stood and what he'd been doing. "Get your hands away from that!"  
  
Granberg's grasp on her had tightened. The woman was stronger than she looked. "No, we have to let him."  
  
"You've got to be joking!" Natali had managed to pull free and had turned to face Granberg, the absurdity of the situation keeping her from more action than that. That engine was Granberg's _baby_.  
  
But despite that being a stone cold fact, Granberg hadn't done more than flinch.  
  
Natali had glanced between the man and Granberg at least twice before she'd gotten her brain back online. "I'm getting security," she'd said, which had been stupid to state out loud, but that was what she'd done. Maybe she'd have gotten out of the room if she hadn't.  
  
When she'd turned around for the door, she'd come face to face with a tall woman in blue. The door hadn't opened and there had been no place for the woman to hide inside the room, yet there she'd been. "Better not," the woman had said, smiling. "Would you like this cat?"  
  
She had been holding a cat. How she'd gotten a cat on board the station remained as big a mystery as how she'd gotten herself inside the laboratory.  
  
"I'm allergic," Natali had answered, dumbly.  
  
"Ah, that's too bad." The woman's eyes had shone bright blue, just for a second. Natali had lost all her energy to move. "I'll have to keep looking for a home for him. Is everything ready?"  
  
"Yes." The man's reply had been terse both in length and tone. "Avert your eyes."  
  
The man had stepped away from the glass. The woman had turned around, shielding the cat. Granberg had covered her face with her hands. She didn't move a millimetre to save her precious engine from annihilation.  
  
That was the moment Natali had decided to keep her mouth shut.  


* * *

  
**G: Dr Amanda Granberg, reporting to give my statement.  
  
INT: Thank you, doctor. Could you describe the afternoon in question?  
  
G: Just the afternoon?  
  
INT: If you please. We already have your written report.  
  
G: Very well. From which time do you wish me to begin?  
  
INT: 13.00, please.  
  
G: Understood. After initiating the final test run of the engine at 11.30, I spent the remaining time up until the explosion in my laboratory, monitoring.  
  
INT: And Second Engineer Alexandrova? When did she join you?  
  
G: I asked her to accompany me at about 13.00.  
  
INT: Why?  
  
G: _[16 second pause]_ I suppose I wanted company for the final step. Someone to share the moment with. I was about to complete my life's work, after all.  
  
INT: What happened after Engineer Alexandrova entered the laboratory?  
  
G: The final test kept going as expected. Until I saw the saboteur, that is.  
  
INT: What did they look like?  
  
G: Male, mid-forties, brown hair on the lighter side, dressed to fit in with the hall workers. I've already had a talk with your sketch artist.  
  
INT: What do you believe caused the explosion?  
  
G: I'm sure your investigation will be able to answer that better than I can. But if you want me to make an educated guess, I'd say the saboteur found a way to activate the fail-safe.  
  
INT: Where did the saboteur go after the explosion?  
  
G: I'm afraid I don't know. No more than I know how he got into the laboratory in the first place.**  


* * *

  
Amanda had been pacing since the second she'd begun the final engine test. The prototype's final test, that was. But it had been the sink or swim test, the one that would show if the engine would be viable for full investment.  
  
The whole station had been counting on her. Not to mince words, all of human civilisation stood to benefit from her success.  
  
The pressure had been getting to her. But she hadn't thought she'd reach the point of visual and auditory hallucinations.  
  
"Why are you still holding that?" the man in the grey suit had said to the woman dressed in blue.  
  
"He needs a new home," the woman had said, petting the black cat she'd cradled in her arms. It had its eyes closed in the way cats did when they were pleased and relaxed but not tired. "Are we ready to begin?"  
  
The man hadn't answer.  
  
Amanda had rubbed at her eyes. "This can't be happening," she'd said out loud, hoping that futile gesture would make it all to go away. She'd hoped in vain.  
  
"Dr Amanda Granberg?"  
  
Amanda had lowered her hands to find the woman standing far too close to her. She'd thought about ignoring her, but then reality had caught up with her. "I am. Who are you and how did you get in here?" She'd already begun reaching for the alarm button under the nearest desk.  
  
"I'm Sapphire and this is Steel," the woman had said, still smiling. "I wouldn't touch that if I were you. It will be much better for all involved if you let us do what we came for, without interruption."  
  
"Who are you working for?" Industrial saboteurs had many possible employers. Amanda had hoped to keep the strangers busy monologuing until she'd gotten hold of the alarm.  
  
The man had given an annoyed huff. "Take care of her."  
  
"I will."  
  
Amanda had flinched back but the woman hadn't moved to touch her or reach for a weapon. Instead, her eyes had taken on a strange blue tint, faintly glowing in the low light of the room.  
  
"If you hinder our work," the woman had said, a faint echo to her words, "I fear this is what will happen to you and your co-workers."  
  
Amanda wished she could forget what happened next.  
  
The screaming had come first. She'd recognised the voices as Lindqvist and Alexandrova, right before she'd seen them, curled up on the floor. She'd tried to run to them, but couldn't move forward, could only collapse to the floor. It hadn't gotten better from there.  
  
The walls had rippled. The air had breathed. Shapes had been tearing at the two engineers, simultaneously leaving them intact and ripping them to pieces. They hadn't been alone in their misfortune. If sound could have travelled through space, Amanda suspected she'd have heard ever colonist on Mars howling in pain. Maybe even the people of Earth.  
  
An outsider would of course have assumed it to be an illusion, a trick of some kind. Hypnotism on a grand and invasive scale. But Amanda had been hypnotised before; she'd been drugged and she'd been brainwashed. All part of the careful training any scientist working at her level would have to undergo before an assignment. The unspeakable things that she'd seen weave their way in and out of her engineers had been unnatural yes, but they'd also been far too real. Like a memory she'd repressed and rediscovered.  
  
In an instant, she'd been made aware of all the ways she'd tried to escape the unspeakable and failed. Would fail. Was failing. And then it had been over, as suddenly as it had begun.  
  
Shaking and blinking away tears, Amanda had looked up at the woman in blue. "How did you do that? Why?"  
  
"Sapphire didn't do anything to you," the man had said. "She merely showed you what will happen if you continue with your 'work'."  
  
Amanda hadn't been able to form words. After, she would think through her own actions, question her willingness to go through with what had happened. She wished she could have doubted herself, doubted them. But the knowledge of Lindqvist and Alexandrova's pain, of the whole station's pain, had been solid as bedrock then and had remained so after.  
  
"What you saw is merely a time echo. It hasn't actually happened. We are here to make sure that experience remains a potential outcome, rather than reality." The woman hadn't moved, yet had remained far too close despite Amanda's flailing. "I'm afraid your invention will have to be destroyed."  
  
It should have been a harder blow. After the visions, it barely registered.  
  
"Can you at least tell me why?" Amanda had scrambled to her feet, still crying. "That engine is a mere prototype, how could it-?"  
  
The woman had kept on smiling. It had almost been comforting. "Speed and time are closely linked, and time is a fragile thing," she'd said, as if that explained everything. It _did_ , of course, but not fully. Amanda doubted she'd ever be able to comprehend the full scope of the disaster she'd unwittingly set in motion.  
  
She'd known there'd be risks, of course. You didn't meddle with such an idea, such an engine, without there being risks. Her sponsors would never have bothered funding her a laboratory on a space station otherwise.  
  
Implosions were one thing. Every person on the station had known what they'd signed up for. But the destruction of one space station was a natural, if tragic thing. What the woman in blue had shown her had been as far from nature as one could reach. It would stay in her nightmares for the rest of her life.  
  
"Always meddling with things you don't understand," the man had said, seemingly more to himself than to either of them. "Sapphire, I'll need you to guard the door. Two of them in here will be enough trouble."  
  
Thoughts whirling, trying to piece together clues from the spares conversation, Amanda had said: "My coworkers are alive?" It had seemed impossible at the time. Maybe, she'd thought, Mars could be saved. The doom of the station, on the other hand, had seemed carved in stone.  
  
"Yes, they're all fine," the woman in blue had said, petting the cat. "This being an accidental breach we were warned in detail before we arrived. Taking time back to a safer point and preventing it all from happening is no challenge then." She'd put a hand on Amanda's cheek in a gesture that felt both comforting and somehow off, as if the intent behind it wasn't wholly human. "You couldn't have known. I'm sure you'll have a continued illustrious career after this."  
  
"Sapphire," the man had said, impatient.  
  
The woman hadn't rolled her eyes, but she had looked amused. And then she had vanished.  
  
They had gotten her Alexandrova, whole and hale. She had stood back and allowed them to destroy her life's work.  
  
She'd even been grateful for it.  


* * *

  
**INT: And you are…?  
  
M: I'm responsible for the cafeteria. Why am I being interviewed?  
  
INT: Please state your name and occupation for the record.  
  
M: Maeda Ume. I'm a cook.  
  
INT: Where were you during the afternoon of the sabotage?  
  
M: In the _cafeteria_. Where I work. Are you arresting me or am I free to go?  
  
INT: There is no reason to worry. You are not under suspicion, we simply wish to cover all possible angles.  
  
M: Admirable, I suppose. But why interview me at all? The only other people you've pulled in for questioning were working in the lab.  
  
INT: Cook Maeda, please. We are aware of your past…encounter.  
  
M: My what?  
  
INT: Due to your work contract, we have access to your medical records. We know of your childhood therapy sessions.  
  
M: Sir, with all due respect, I'm hardly the first child in the world to make up stories about aliens.**  


* * *

  
Ume's heart had sunk before she'd turned around. She hadn't been able to put her finger on why, but she hadn't need to. The answer had stood at the cafeteria counter, smiling benevolently at her.  
  
"Oh no."  
  
"Hello again."  
  
Ume's heart had braced itself where it had sunk and set off at a rapid pace. She'd cursed herself for being a greedy idiot, for getting herself trapped in a tin can floating in space simply because the job paid well. There had been nowhere to run - not quickly enough.  
  
Her distress must have been written all over her face, because Sapphire's smile had softened and she'd tilted her head in that way Ume recalled seeing while hiding under the stairs with her brother. "There's no reason to fret. We're here on a minor assignment. Should be out of your hair in an hour or two."  
  
'No reason to fret'. Ume had wanted to spit "Tell that to my brother!" but the words wouldn't form. Hayao had survived, after all. More than could be said for their neighbours.  
  
"You want something from me."  
  
Sapphire had adjusted her hold on the cat in her arms, and said: "Yes."  
  
"…what do you need me to do?"  
  
"You've met First Engineer Lindqvist?"  
  
That had thrown her for a loop but only for a second. Hesitation was not a good thing when dealing with Sapphire and her kind. "Yes. What about her?"  
  
"All we need is for you to talk to her. Keep her in the cafeteria for a little longer than her lunch lasts."  
  
"How long?"  
  
"A few minutes will do."  
  
Ume had weighed her options. She'd remembered her brother's face as he'd offered his hands to Sapphire and her partner, a determined frown on his face. She couldn't be less than him, even knowing the cost.  
  
"Fine." That had been all the answer she'd managed. "How many people will die?"  
  
Sapphire's eyes had twinkled at that, as if amused. "No one is dying today."  
  
"I wish I could believe you." She really had.  
  
Steel had entered the conversation without warning or care. "Is she amendable?" He'd stopped hovering over by the sandwich display and joined them by the counter, looking at Ume as he spoke to Sapphire. No surprise there.  
  
Ume hadn't bothered acknowledging him. She'd agreed to their task. She'd refused to give them any more of her time than she already had.  
  
"She is," Sapphire had answered.  
  
Ume had very carefully not watched Steel leave. She had, in fact, crossed her arms over her chest and glared daggers into the nearest menu until he went away. He'd lingered for a bit longer than she'd have expected, based on her memories of him. They were fifteen year old memories, yes, but they were some of the clearest and most intense she had.  
  
Sapphire had made a noise Ume hadn't been able to place. A chuckle? A gasp? "Why Cook Maeda, I do believe you hurt his feelings."  
  
"I didn't know he had any."  
  
"Maybe not in the sense you mean, but we do experience emotions."  
  
Ume hadn't rolled her eyes, but it had been a near thing."My _twin_ brother is six years older than me, thanks to you two."  
  
"You still _have_ a twin brother and a life, thanks to us two."  
  
Which, unfortunately, was the truth. Ume had sighed, resigned. "I'll do what you asked." Then: "Only because I'm stupidly curious: why are you holding a cat?"  
  
"He's a passenger," Sapphire had said, scratching the cat under the chin. "A lost soul in need of a new home."  
  
"You know what." It had only almost been a joke. "If we all survive whatever monsters you'll be fighting today, I'll take that cat off your hands. I'm going dirt-side soon enough as is, might as well bring company."  
  
That's how she'd ended up with a new cat and a first date. Which, compared with her previous encounter with aliens, definitely had been an improvement.  


* * *

  
"I thought you'd be pleased."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Considering the last time-"  
  
"There is no need to discuss the last time."  
  
"If you say so."  
  
"I do say so."  
  
"..."  
  
"You'd think they'd learn not to tinker with light speed engines, eventually."  
  
"They're not the first species to do so. They likely won't be the last."  
  
"More work for us."  
  
"I'm sure one of them will figure out a safe way to construct such a spaceship, eventually."  
  
"Hmph!"  
  
They stood together in the cafeteria, unseen by anyone but themselves. Sapphire had her eyes on the cat, curled up in Ms Maeda's lap. Steel had his attention pointedly turned in the opposite direction, observing the comings and goings of the interview team.  
  
_"She is grateful, you know,"_ Sapphire said, without speaking. _"In her own way. And so is Dr Granberg."  
  
"I'm aware." _  
  
Sapphire smiled, because it was a day for smiling, and winked her goodbye to the cat. It gave her a slow wink in return, pleased as only a cat in a warm spot with good company can be.  
  
Steel didn't smile, but he smiled so rarely and briefly that the absence of the expression didn't mean much.  
  
"Shall we get going then?" Sapphire took Steel's arm, because it was also a day for touching.  
  
Steel nodded.  
  
They vanished. Only the cat saw them go.


End file.
